


that's where I'll be loving you forever

by becausebeyond



Category: Little Women (2019), Little Women Series - Louisa May Alcott
Genre: Angst, Eventual Romance, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Love Confessions, Romance, Romantic Friendship, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:07:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28821978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/becausebeyond/pseuds/becausebeyond
Summary: "She was so close now. So close to him. She didn't know if she should talk to him now, and when she was thinking about whether she would shake his shoulder or wait till tomorrow, he turned quickly, and his eyes stopped at her face, and his voice broke the night air."
Relationships: Theodore Laurence & Josephine March, Theodore Laurence/Josephine March
Comments: 13
Kudos: 58





	1. love is not a weakness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just after Laurie's proposal to Jo.

That night Jo couldn't sleep. 

Her mind kept repeating over and over again Teddy's words while he proposed to her just a few hours before.

"I' _ve loved you ever since I've known you, Jo. I couldn't help it."_

And she couldn't stop thinking about Teddy's broken face. 

" _I can't love anyone else, Jo, I only love you."_

"I'm such an idiot who ruins everything". She whispered to her pillow.

She got up from the bed. She put her coat above her night clothes. She needed to breath better. She couldn't take a deep breath, her own guilt and regret were eating her alive.

" _I love you, Jo. I love you, Jo!"_

Her conversation with Laurie that morning was still fresh in her mind and it supposedly didn't have to affect her, but the thing is it did. She wanted to forget the pain she had seen in Teddy's eyes or his trembling voice when he confessed his love for her.

Jo was feeling so many emotions she wanted to scream. And also for the first time she was feeling a sense of emptiness at the prospect of not having Laurie in her life. 

" _And I'll watch."_

 _And_ with those words Teddy had turned around, hands in his pockets, head lowered, and walked away from her, leaving her with a sense of weariness she never felt before. As every step Teddy gave, she felt a part of herself go with him. 

And then it hit her. 

She always thought that the worst thing was to become his wife but now she understand better, the worst destiny is to live without him in her life. 

She wanted to be loved. And Teddy loved her. And she... 

Did she love him? Has she have been so blind herself that she didn't realize that her own convictions of her planned future were not true? That they were a wall to deny herself love? Laurie's love? 

But she now saw that love was not a weakness. Love was not underpowered. Love was good. Love was needed. Love was important. 

People wish to love and be loved. 

With these thoughts, Jo reached her entrance. 

It was cold outside but it felt good to feel the cold atmosphere in her skin. She could breath better. It was less painful, her insides. 

Her family was sleeping. 

She hoped she didn't woke them up. 

"Now what I'm going to do?" She asked herself. 

She wanted to go and see Teddy. Talk to him. Tell him that she was stupid. That she didn't understood what her mouth was saying in their early conversation. That she wanted to take his hand. 

She now wished she had let him kiss her like he intended to do in the meadow. 

She was walking around her house and came to Teddy's and his grandfather house. It was so late. What the hell was she thinking? She should wait till morning and then she would try to see Laurie. 

She was focused on her thoughts that at first missed his immaculate silhouette. 

He was sitting in the steps of the house. His head in his knees and he was looking in front of him, lost in thoughts. 

He hasn't noticed me, she thought. 

A sudden warm and energy filled her entire body. 

He looked beautiful in the middle of the night. 

She wondered how she could have not noticed this more times before? 

Because he really was beautiful. 

And apparently he thought she was beautiful too. 

She was so close now. So close to him. His presence brought her peace. 

She didn't know if she should talk to him now, and when she was thinking about whether she would shake his shoulder or wait till tomorrow, he turned quickly, like he felt her presence, and his eyes stopped at her face, and his voice broke the night air. 

"Jo?" 


	2. cold inside

"Jo?" Laurie asked.

He got up inmediately on his feet and took a step back away from her.

His face was timidly illuminated by the thin candle lights of the house's entrance.

She saw his eyes looked red and glassy. 

He had been crying, she realized. 

He quickly rubbed his hands to his face and stumbled in his feet. 

Jo felt a push of hurt in her chest when she saw Teddy backing away from her. 

She did this. 

It was her own stupid fault. 

"I... I'm sorry. I couldn't sleep and I felt like going for a walk..." She stumbled with the words.

Teddy didn't say a word. He kept looking at her.

He had leaned against a tree and his eyes looked huge. He looked as if he was going to pass out any minute now. 

"I'm sorry Teddy. I didn't mean to scare you. I wanted to talk to you... I mean not right now. But after what happened yesterday, I was feeling so guilty and I felt terrible." Jo couldn't help the words slip her mouth.

She always had been bad at keeping her mouth shut anyway. 

Jo took a step closer to him and she saw in horror as he took another step back at the same time. 

"Teddy? " Her voice came out small and thin. She wanted to run away that instant. Teddy's reactions to her weren't being exactly great.

"I didn't mean what I said. You took my by surprise." She knew it was a pathetic excuse. "I know that sounds silly and it's not a excuse at all... I'm sorry. If I could turn back time..." Jo said, her voice now cracking a little.

A silence fell between them.

Jo didn't cry much often but at this very instant she felt tears climbing up her throat, and she wasn't sure how much time she would be able to hold them back. Teddy wasn't saying anything. What was happening?

He look fragile, she thought. He also looked tired. He wasn't wearing his night clothes, she noticed. He was wearing light black trousers and a black jacket. 

And he was looking at her but his lips weren't moving. 

He must be so hurt, she thought.

"Say something, please." Her plan of waiting till tomorrow went off the roof apparently.

His eyes closed for a second. 

Then he said, "It's done." His voice was deep and strained as he had been crying.

Jo didn't understand his words at first but then she realized he was responding to her last words. 

"I'm..." She began saying sorry again.

He looked down. He looked so exhausted. 

"I was a fool." His voice was a whisper. 

"No! No, you weren't Teddy. I was! But please hear me out. I want to fix it, I want to..." Her voice raised and she took another step towards him.

He backed another step away from her and she felt something kicking her lungs. No, this couldn't be happening, she thought. 

He raised his hand then, "It's okay. You don't have to clear your conscience. I understand. I was a fool." His voice was so lifeless that it scared her.

"Teddy please I'm serious it's true. It's my fault but please believe me..." She struggled with words.

"I dont' want to be over you!" Jo told him.

Teddy looked at her and she wanted to reach out and take his face in her hands. She wasn't even sure he was seeing her. He looked worn-out.

"You were never under me, Jo. You said it yourself." Laurie attempted to smile but his joke felt cold like the air.

"I don't know..." Jo wasn't sure what to say, "I don't even know why I say things I say sometimes. But I care about you too much to be able to loose you."

Laurie looked amused then. But it was not the smile Jo loved and had seen so many times on his face. He looked out. His smile looked absent. 

"That's nice, but it's all a lie." Laurie said, his voice fading away, as if he was very amused with a joke she had told him.

"Teddy?" She asked.

She saw his eyes close and then she knew what was happening. 

She rushed to his side and was able to craddle his head to her chest before he collapsed against her and his body went limp. 

She was able to lowered herself with Teddy against her to the ground so he and both of them wouldn't get hurt. She protected his head against her chest so he would be safe till they reached the ground.

"Teddy!" She screamed.

She lay him down and she saw his eyes closed and his lips opened. 

"Teddy! Dear God! Don't you dare do this to me!" She shouted shaking him by the sleeves of his jacket.

She looked around now crying, looking for help, but it was the middle of the night. 

Then she saw a pile of water next to her and without thinking it twice she took some of it between her hands and trew it out to his face. 

He reacted and opened his eyes. He appeared to be trying to focus on his vision. She craddle his head in her lap, lovingly.

"It's okay my dear Teddy. Please don't leave me, not you, not you too!" She cried.

"Help! Help!" She screamed to the house. She hoped his grandfather or her own family will hear her and came to help them. She couldn't move Teddy by herself.

Luckily her screams were heard and his grandfather and her own mother and Meg came to them. 

They moved Teddy to his bedroom and put him in his bed. He was better but still looked fragile and tired.

"Laurie, I will have the doctor hear next thing in the morning. Till then rest. You didn't eat or drink anything today." His grandfather said, leaving the room.

"Quite a scare you gave us Laurie." Jo's mother said, smiling a little to reassure him.

Meg nodded. 

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to disturb you." He managed to say. He tried to smile but failed. 

Jo was in a corner of the room. She herself felt like she was going to pass out too. She was worried, scared, angry. She heard what his grandfather said: "You didn't eat anything today." She was angry at him for this, he should be taking care of himself. But she also felt terrible and so guilty. Had her words upset him so much he didn't take care of himself?

She wanted to yell at him and also hug him. It was so frustrating!

Laurie then looked at her from the bed and his eyes softened. He looked more himself now than he did before in their night conversation. But his beautiful face was still pale. 

"Thank you, Jo. " Teddy said then, his voice velvet and quite.

"Don't do that again, Teddy." Jo couldn't help but say. She felt her legs still weak.

"Jo! Don't be rude." Her mother said, laughing.

Meg laughed to relieve the tension, "We go now, we let Laurie rest."

Laurie blinked twice and lowered his head. 

"Thank you, again." He whispered to them.

"No need to thank us. We're like a family." Meg answered. 

A silence felt between them. 

Jo felt so awkward. It wasn't a good moment to remind her, or Teddy, that she had turned down his earlier proposal. 

" _Why does my grandpa and your family expect it?"_

_"Why are you saying this?_

_"Say yes, and let's be happy together, Jo."_

Her heart started pounding faster when she remembered his earlier words. 

Her mother and Meg told her to let Teddy rest, and they took her out of the room. She didn't want to leave his side to make sure he was recovering but she also didn't want to upset him further. 

So with a heavy heart, the door closed behind her, leaving Teddy just a door between them but she felt him miles away from her. 


	3. clarity

It's been a week. 

A whole entire week since they last talked. 

Jo was beginning to think if their night conversation had been a mistake she did or if he simply didn't remember well what happened since he wasn't feeling well that night. 

Either way it was horrific. 

Jo spent time writing to pour her feelings in the empty white papers. But she hated what she wrote and ended up being frustrated and confused. 

They hadn't seen each other since last week and it was driving Jo crazy. 

She didn't know exactly who shut out who really. 

But it all went downhill. 

She had visited Teddy the next morning to make sure he was better. She arrived at the house when the doctor left shortly before. His grandfather told her that the doctor has confirmed he collapsed because of stress. 

Guilt crawled up her back but she only nodded and went up his room to see him. 

He was sleeping peacefully in his bed. His eyes were closed and his chest went up and down with his breathing. It was silly but it gave Jo comfort just by seeing that little thing. 

She came closer to him, hoping not to wake him up. He needed the rest and she wasn't going to disturb him. 

However when she was just inches before him, she couldn't help but touched softly, very lightly, his cheek. 

Jo was caught off guard when she felt a rush of warm spread through her chest. He looked beautiful. Too beautiful. She felt it was almost unfair that he looked this beautiful, just house later of collapsing. 

She almost laughed out loud at the absurdity of her thoughts. 

It seemed like she couldn't stop thinking about his beauty lately. She definitely had been blind before. 

His skin was soft against her fingers. He didn't wake up and she couldn't help but lean even further into him. 

She should stop. He would wake up. 

Yes, stop, her mind said. 

But the pull was stronger. 

Her heart won. 

So her lips pressed against his cheek. Soft as a butterfly. Her eyes closed as she kissed his skin. 

And when she felt him under her lips, she knew that something has changed. 

That there was something that it wasn't before.

Something new. 

Her heart jumped.

She wished she could look him in the eyes right now. 

Then he murmured something in his sleep as if he was sensing her, and she pulled away worrying she might wake him up. 

She decided she should go now and let him sleep so he could rest and recover. 

His well being was so important for her. 

Jo took another deep breath as she remembered those moments. 

If she closed her eyes, she could still feel his soft skin of his cheek under her own lips. 

She wished she could hug him. She really needed a warm hug of his. 

She even missed the way he would brushed his face against her, the way he would snuggle his nose against her face or her hair. She missed the way he smiled when he did it. 

She pushed her knees more against her chest and rested her head against them. 

She was sitting in the meadow where Teddy proposed to her days ago. 

She didn't know why but she felt like coming back to the place where it all turned down. 

The ground under her was warm, the sun was bright above her. 

She looked at the trees and the birds flying between them. 

She hoped Teddy was already recovered. She had asked his grandfather about his health but she didn't dare to come up and see him, fearing her presence would upset him. 

A few days ago she broke down in her mother's arms, whispering Teddy's name and rambling on about how she wished she could turned back time. 

She cried in front of her mother like she did just before she refused Teddy's proposal that day. 

"And I now realized that the greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves." Jo said, sobbing. 

Her mother looked at her from the couch and nodded, smiling softly. 

"Sometimes it sad that a rush of shocking moment has to happen for us to realize things. And sometimes it is true that we do appreciate things when it's too late. But hear me out, Jo, it is not too late. It's not too late. You can still fix things with Laurie, you can still both be happy."

Her mother had hugged her and told her that things would fix.

But how could she know? Jo asked herself. 

" The greatest thing you'll ever learn is to love and be loved in return." Her mother told her.

" How do you know he does want me back, mom? Maybe he changed his mind. Maybe he decided that I'm not good enough for him. That I'm this awkward and horrible person...! "She stammered with her words, tears in her eyes. 

Marmee stopped her, taking her by her arms." Jo, you're not either of those things. You're a great person and Laurie knows it. That's why he fell in love with you. "

At the mention of Laurie's love for her, Jo whipped softly again. 

"How could he forgive me? I broke his heart." Jo whispered. 

" Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." Her mother said. 

"You didn't do anything wrong, Jo. Everyone makes mistakes. But you realized soon enough. You started the path to make amends. He will come along because he loves you, dear." Her mother continued. 

"I made a mistake turning down his proposal. But I'm not giving up on him." Jo said. 

Marmee looked at her, her eyes understanding, and a little smile on her lips. 

"Do you love him, Jo?" 

Jo looked at her and, her golden hair in constrast with her dark dress, her eyes shining with tears, and with her voice trembling, she answered:

"Yes...". Her voice quivering with emotion, she nodded while she spoke, "Very much."


	4. from now on

After the heat she felt inside the house, the icy air of the afternoon felt good as it chilled the perspiration on her skin. Shivering pleasantly, Jo shook her head so the cold air could reach under her heavy hair and cool her neck.

On the curved meadow in front of her, she could see no one but some birds flying here and there as she headed around the end of the meadow, wobbling a bit as Jo’s shoes rocked on the uneven ground. Camouflaged in the golden light of the sunset, she followed the unlighted footpath towards the walled garden of trees. She could see the church in the distance. In the air she could smell a faint ashy tang of flowers and hear occasional bursts of muffled wind from the grass, but she was nearly at the meadow now and hidden by the trees.

And then she arrived and stood in front at the small, wooden structure, that Laurie made in the forest, inside the tree near her house, by the pond. The post office, with its lock destinated to a golden key. 

Reaching out Allie touched the smooth wooden surface as she thought about the night she met Teddy and they danced together. It seemed forever ago.

"You’re not wearing a coat, you know."

For some reason, his voice didn’t surprise her, although she hadn’t heard his footsteps. For a second she closed her eyes, lost in indecision. Then she turned.

Laurie stood a few feet away next to the path that drove to where she stood. When their eyes met, Jo shivered again.

"Teddy". She said, her voice soft.

Teddy looked good, so good, and so beautiful. She wanted to run and throw herself in his arms, and she wanted him to hug her, possibly forever. She wanted to see his beautiful eyes look at her with the look he only gave her. 

She gestured vaguely at his blazer. "You aren’t either."

"Yes, but this blazer comes with a jacket, so I at least have this." He shrugged the black, silk-lined jacket off and held it out to her. His crisp white shirt seemed to glow in the golden light of the afternoon.

"But now you’ll be cold," she pointed out, not reaching for it.

His lips curved up. "I’ll live."

There it was the smile she so loved. Seeing Teddy smile again to her, her heart fluttered. 

After a moment’s hesitation, she accepted it. As she’d known it would, it still held his body heat and smelled of him, so nice.

"I wanted to properly thank you." His gaze traced the curls over her shoulders. "For helping me."

"No need." She touched her hair with nervous fingers. "I wouldn't have forgiven myself if something happened to you and I didn't help you." She continued. 

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you", he said. 

There he was again apologizing for something he didn't have the fault. _Oh, Teddy._

She shrugged to show she understood. "You gave me quite a scare. But I suppose I can forgive you." She said to light up the mood. 

It worked as Teddy timidly smiled. 

"I'm glad." His tone was wry.

Then it seemed they’d used up all the small talk; an awkward silence fell between them. Jo shifted her weight on to one shoe, digging the toe of the other into the dirt. Watching her, he leaned against a tree.

She wanted to say so many more things. 

She was so nervous. 

Teddy was looking at her again with the same look he always looked at her. 

"I'm the one whose sorry." Jo said, the words coming out of her mouth strangled, her voice breaking. 

He looked down for a moment, his face changing for a second, a flash of hurt in his eyes. 

"I meant what I said the other night. I regret what I said the other day. I was wrong. I care about you. Too much actually, and I can't bear to loose you. I realized that what I thought about being your wife would be the worst fate was just nonsense. And I was stupid. Because the worst fate is to live my life without you." Jo told him, catching her breath at the end of her speech. 

There was a silence as her words hang in the space between them. 

Teddy looked surprised for a second, then he opened his lips, as his eyes wavered through her face, reading her. His eyes sparkled, disarmed for an instant. 

More seconds passed without them just looking at each other. 

His face changed from hurt to...Was that hope was she saw in his eyes? Jo hoped it was. 

When he finally spoke, Jo felt her heart beat faster. 

"What are you doing out in the cold, alone, Jo?" His voice was low.

_You know what. Or you wouldn’t be here, too._

"I don’t know … I guess I just needed some air." Her eyes challenged him. "What are you doing out here?"

His shoulders tensed; when he spoke his voice was low. "I followed you."

She felt the breath go out of her. "Why?" The word came out as a whisper.

Althought she knew why. She knew they both were thinking the same. 

"Il cuore ha le sue ragioni che la ragione non conosce." He recited that phrase in Italian too fast, and Jo shook her head.

" I don’t understand." She told him. Not knowing what he’d said left her feeling almost panicked." What does that mean?" Jo said. 

But when his gaze locked on hers the longing she saw there answered her question.


	5. love is the answer

"It means that I want to be with you. That I can’t get you out of my head." Teddy said. He pounded his fist with restrained energy against the wooden tree.

"I have tried everything I know how to try, and you’re still there." He continued. 

"In my heart, my mind, my every living cell of my body." Teddy whispered. 

Jo's breath caught in her throat. Two breaths in. One breath out.

"I … I think about you, too." She told him. She could barely hear herself speak over the thudding of her heart.

She could tell by the way his light eyes flashed that he knew what she was thinking.

"I would do anything for you, my dear Jo. Anything. I meant every word I said that day in the meadow. And I still stand by that. " Teddy told her, raising his hand and placing it just above where his heart was beating under his clothes.

"You can not imagine the pain I felt, Jo. It broke my heart. That day, in the meadow. There was a moment I really thought I would just might as well kneel over and die." Laurie said. He lowered his head as he took a deep breath before raising his head again to look at her. 

There was a silence. They stared at each other and they felt that their looks and eyes spoke for themselves. 

Jo finally nodded. 

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Teddy. I regret what I said that day i the meadow. I was wrong. I was denying myself my feelings for you. I was trying to convince myself that being with you was wrong and I hate myself for that. Because now I see how stupid that was. I don't know what else to say, except that I just can't live without you in my life. That I want you. That I choose you. You." She said, her voice breaking a little, the weight of emotion in her chest. 

"I want to make amends. If you'll have me." Jo told him. 

"What you're saying to me... You mean it? Truly?" His voice was passionate, almost desperate.

"Dare I hope? You would accept me?" Laurie's broke was hoarse sound. His arm swept towards the house building they could just see through the trees.

Jo softly smiled at him. 

"Teddy, my lovely Teddy." Her voice was soft and warm and she wanted to run to him. 

"What would be the point of life without love?" Jo found herself saying.

Teddy blinked a few times. 

"Love?" He said in a whisper. 

"I realized things. I was just wrong enough to try to convince myself that being with you was something that went against my beliefs. But I understand better now. It's not that at all. Love and my beliefs are two different things that don't go against one another." She told him, her voice now raising a little as it broke in a tangled sound. She raised her hands to her chest. 

"And I’m sorry about what I did that day in the meadow. If there was some way to take it all back …" Jo finished. 

Suddenly she didn’t care about anything else. She’d spent so much time denying her feelings for Teddy, and how good they were together, and worrying about what her ideas and beliefs meant and the rest that she didn't actually stop to think about them and their feelings. What about what she wanted? 

She knew she wanted Teddy. 

And Teddy... Hopefully he still wanted her. Jo thought. 

So why shouldn’t she have Teddy? Now she could find out once and for all if she did want to be with him.

Teddy cared about her. Teddy wanted her.

"You can take it back." He said suddenly.

Jo stared at him with open surprise.

Before she could change her mind, she ran across the space that divided them. Her jacket slid from her shoulders, pooling forgotten on the frosty ground.

"Let’s just take it all back." She said, before standing before him, coming so close to him, looking into his eyes as he returned their look and came even closer to her. 


	6. you

Jo felt her heart beat faster as she looked at him. They were so close now, she could feel Teddy's breathing changing. She could feel his body heat. His eyes looked like diamonds.

She could see the doubt in his eyes, as if he didn’t believe this was really happening.

There was the time for truth. 

Jo smiled.

"I love you, Teddy." She finally confessed. 

When she said the words, she felt good.

She felt this was really supposed to happen.

She knew she loved him.

She realized she has always loved him. 

She has been scared to admit it out loud but she was in love with her best friend. 

And it was finally time to let it free. 

He was beautiful inside and out. He loved her. He cared for her. 

They were meant to be. 

Laurie's eyes sparkled, they travelled along her face, and finally, slowly, very slowly, as if her words hit home, he smiled too. 

"I love you, Jo." He said. 

Reaching up, she traced the outline of his lips with her fingertips. He closed his eyes. Then, sliding her hands around his neck, she pulled him down to her.

At first she was distracted by how so much better than she could have ever imagined this felt. His lips were soft assured. It felt destinated. 

But she wasn’t going to chicken out. Instead of pulling away, she leaned into him and the kiss – which had been tentative at first – strengthened as Teddy realised she was serious about this.

Hesitantly, his hands slid down the silk of her dress to her waist – when she didn’t pull away he drew her more tightly against him.

When her lips parted for him, he groaned softly at the back of his throat; her bones seemed to soften and she leaned into him as his arms tightened around her.

She was so close to him, she could feel his heart thudding as if it were beating in her own chest.

Jo poured all the loneliness of the last weeks into that kiss. The pain of almost loosing him. Blaming herself for everything. The long nights with no one to talk to. Longing for something she thought at first she wasn’t supposed to want.

As if he sensed this, Teddy cupped the back of her head to kiss her more deeply.

Gasping against his lips, she slid her hands up to tangle her fingers in the soft waves of his hair.

Heat radiated from his body as if he had a fever; Jo wasn’t cold any more. She wasn’t alone any more.

There was no logic to this – no plan. She didn’t care any more. Teddy was pouring his heart into their kiss and she felt his love, his longing, colliding into her soul. 

His lips moved down the side of her face to her ear then on to her neck and, breathing in short gasps, she dropped her head back. But something soft and delicate – like feathers of rain – tickled her face, distracting her.

Opening her eyes, she saw transparent crystals whirling against the sunset, and she straightened with a small cry. "It’s raining!"

Still wrapped in each other’s arms, they looked up into the infinity of soft light rain falling from a sunset sky. The world seemed to hush around them.

"It’s a sign," he said. A few rain drops had settled disarmingly on his eyelashes and his white teeth flashed as he smiled.

"A sign of what?" She wondered if she looked that happy to him. She sure felt so. 

"That this is right." Teddy answered. 


	7. incredibly close

It begins to rain.

Their mutual love has been professed to each other. 

There are no more barriers. 

No more repressed feelings. 

No more lies. 

No more open wounds. 

They kiss until they need to catch their breaths.

All is going fast and intense. 

They stand in silence as the drops multiply.

"Oh, Jo." Teddy says. His voice is so soft, and a little raspy, and so beautiful. She thinks she likes the sound so much. 

"If I ask you again this time..." He starts to say, with a smile. 

"Ask me properly, Teddy." She says, smiling. 

Jo feels something burning inside her. Her heart is bursting against her chest, but in a good, great, way. She has never felt this way before. 

Teddy is looking at her as if she was the best thing he had ever seen. 

She feels so lucky. 

She thinks that she will not mess this up again. 

But then a loud thunder breaks the air and rain drops more forcefully upon them, interrupted them both. 

They both look up, startled, then they both laugh. Their arms still around each other. 

“Come on,” Jo says, taking Teddy's hand. “Let’s head inside.”

They look at each other at the same time and go to the house, branches scraping at their legs as the sky opens up and the rain spills out.

Crashing through the back door, she’s hot and cool all at once. And completely soaked.

Her hair sticking to her cheeks, her shirt clinging to her body. Teddy, too, is soaked through, his hair in clumps of wet curls, his chest heaving.

He pulls her close to him and kisses her. Their wet bodies stick together.

Neither of them speak a word more than, only gasps and groans between them and them whispering their names. 

Their pent up emotions colliding, no longer caged. 

Jo grasps his jacket, she doesn't know what exactly is she doing but she is pushing the sleeves of his jacket away, she needs to see the skin of his beautiful neck.

She remembers how good it felt under her lips when she kissed him in the cheek when he was recovering in his bed after his collapse. 

Her hands finally set him free of his vest, falling onto the floor, revealing a white inmaculate shirt, and she touches his collarbone, fascinated. His soft moan encourages her even further, his hands on her back slides down to her waist.

She peels a few bottoms of it, finally seeing some of his skin, his chest, and touches his neck with her fingers as they kiss again. 

Their tongues have fallen in love and got married in Paris, she thinks, before she looses herself in his kiss, their kiss, their touches. 

One of his hands cradles her jaw, her neck, his fingers brushing against her skin and it feels so good, Jo closes his eyes again, completely under their spell. 

His touch is so delicate, so marvelous. 

When they break the next kiss to catch a breath, Teddy's eyes bore into hers. His look is full of longing, and need, and love, and passion. 

They look at each other, matching their burning stares. 

Their wet bodies, wet clothes, stick together. 

His hands are pulling at her, peeling her shirt up over her head.

She lets out a sigh of relief, her own skin is burning, yearning for his touch. She has now only her underwear on her upper body. 

Then she peels away his. 

There's no plan, or thinking, just feeling. 

And they are kissing and walking, heading toward the living room couch half-dressed, the rain blurring the view out of every window.

The room is dark with the storm until a crack of lightning candles, brightening everything up.


	8. other voices, other rooms

The night is setting on, slowly, tenderly. 

The blinding lights of candles light up the living room and Jo and Laurie pull apart in a hurry to prevent from being discovered. 

Voices from the entrance can be hear.

Jo and Laurie still breath heavily and, they have just the right time to put their shirts on quickly, when Marmee, Beth, Amy, and Meg with John appear on the hall, wearing coats and baskets.

The three of them stare at Jo and Laurie, whose faces are bright red. Teddy blinks embarrassed, hoping they don't repeat in their messy hair or some other thing. 

"Mom, Meg, Amy, Beth!" Jo says, in a strange high voice, that Teddy almost laughs. Jo goes to them and hugs them, laughing. She doesn't care what they might think Teddy and her were doing because right now she feels absolutely happy. 

Beth hugs her sister and gives a nod to Laurie who smiles at her. 

"Jo! I thought that you were walking. And Laurie! We didn't know you were here too. What a..." Her mother looked from Laurie to Jo, startled but smiling, "a wonderful surprise."

"Take a sit, Laurie, please. You can come to dinner with us, if you like." Meg says, as she takes John's hand again and he gives a short smile, agreeing with her.

Jo looks at Teddy, and he smiles at her. She comes closer to him and hugs him. His arms inmediately close around her.

"I'm going to tell them that we fixed things." She whispered in his ear. She raised herself on her toes to reach him. 

Teddy closed his eyes, as he felt her breath in in his skin, and his breathing deeply and relaxed, "I'll be here."

Jo looks at him, smiling, feeling happy, as their hug finish, his hands are still on her, and she takes his face in her hands and gives him a passionate kiss on his lips, taking him by absolutely surprise. 

Jo kisses him, her arms circling around his neck and she presses herself against him. 

The kiss is short but intense and when she finally pulls away his eyes have darkened. 

The other five people in the room let out happy gasps, cheers, and exclamations, good ones. 

"Oh my God!" The couple hear Amy say, excited. 

A smile is on her face as Teddy looks at her when the kiss ends, and he smiles back, feeling completely melted.

"I'm with Teddy. We're together." Jo tells the four people in the kitchen.

"About time. I'm glad you two could work things out." Marmee says, smiling.

"Yes, everyone was expecting it. I'm so happy for you, Jo." Meg tells her.

"Same goes with me." Mr Brooke says, with a smile.

"Oh Jo! This is great! When is the wedding? I want to be the best maid!" Amy exclaimed, running through the kitchen.

Jo laughed, "He didn't ask me properly ask me again." 

"Yet." She added. 

"He will! I'm sure he will!" Amy said. 

"Yes, Jo, he is crazy for you." Meg encouraged her. 

"Don't let him go ever again, Jo." Her mother hugged her. 

"I won't. I love him so much." She said, now getting emotional again. 

"I'm so happy for you." Beth said, leaning her head against Jo's shoulder and taking her hand. 

"To love and be loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further." Beth told her with a smile and Jo nodded hugging her dear sister. 

Laurie is nervous. He feels so happy his heart is about to burst from his chest. He was not cold anymore. 

Jo and him were together. Heaven! 

Out of the kitchen it come muffled voices.

He can hear Jo's voice and he smiles.

Then he catches the next words she says and that he can hear, and his heart explodes with love. “I love him. Teddy, I'm in love with him. I thank God I realized it soon enough. And I see that it is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy; - it is disposition alone. Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others. And I saw it.” Jo says. 

“He is my North, my South, my East and West, my working week and my Sunday rest. I choose him, and he chooses me. He chooses me and I choose him. I really believe he is my soulmate. A perfect fit, a mirror. And that it got me almost loosing him so I realized that he is the man that belongs with me, and that I belong with him.” She continues saying to her family as he catches her words from the other room. 

Laurie stands up and he wants to go to her and pull her close to him, hug her, kiss her, everything, but he instructs himself to remain sit down and wait for her to return. He feels something undescribable exploting in his chest at the listening of what she's saying about him. He feels his life is complete, that life is perfect. He still is processing that Jo, beautiful Jo, his best friend, his most dear person, is with him and loves him back. He had always been in love with Jo, he has loved her since he'd known her, he couldn't help it as he told her. Them finally being together is like a perfect dream that he never wants to wake up. 

Mr Brooke excuses himself, leaving the sisters and the mother talking between them as the latest news Jo is telling about her and Laurie repose. 

He smiles to himself and meets Laurie, who is sitting in a chair in the living room, and he stands up when he sees him. 

"I'm happy for you, Laurie." Mr Brooke says, shaking his hand. 

"Thank you. We're begining our relationship. But it's amazing." Teddy says, visibly emotional.

"I know. I can understand. When Meg and I got together was a bliss, and it didn't stop since that moment." John smiles. 

Jo finishes hugging her sisters and her mother, and after several words of happiness and relief from her family, she goes to Teddy. She stops at the door when she hears both men talking and listens as Teddy's voice speaks again, soft and warm. 

"I just love her so much. I'm so in love with her I prefer to die to realize that she can't live him in this way...You know? I love her since the moment I meet her. I can't remember I single moment when I wasn't in love with Jo. It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight. She is more than human to me. She is a Fairy, a Sylph, I don’t know what she is - anything that no one ever saw, and everything that everybody ever wanted. I was swallowed up in an abyss of love in an instant. There was no pausing on the brink; no looking down, or looking back; I was gone, headlong, before I had sense to say a word to her. And yes, her first rejection hurt like hell, and then she said she made a mistake...but you don’t love someone because they’re perfect, you love them in spite of the fact that they’re not, so I love her."

"I can't imagine my life without her, you know? Without her face, and her heart, her good heart, and I don't know, her eyes, her arms, everything. I want only her kind heart, her stalking beauty, her theatre of expressions. Anyone who has seen her smile has known perfection. She instills grace in every common thing and divinity in every careless gesture. I want the minute secret reflection between us, the depth of field minimal, our foreignness intimate like two pages of a closed book, like the books she loves so much.”

Jo almost falls to the floor as she listens to Teddy's words from behind the door. Her heart swells, and she for the hundred time wonders how in the name of God did she ever think about letting him go, convincing herself that she didn't love him in that way. She almost looses her mind. She wants to go to him, run if necessary, to tell him again how much she needs him, and wants him and loves him, and she made a promise that she will tell him that all the days from this moment on. 

Everybody had dinner together like one big happy family. 

Afterwards, they all stayed in the living room, by the fire, talking and laughing. The atmosphere was so warm and pleasant. Jo was sitting between Teddy and Beth in the couch, her mother in front of her and her other sisters and Mr Brooke, sitting next to them. 

Marmee nodded to Jo, smiling. 

"You both are so beautiful." She said. 

Teddy blushed and Jo teased him, giving him a nudge on his chest, laughing. 

"He's the pretty in the couple." Jo said. 

"That's not true." Teddy inmediately argued. 

Jo was amused at how serious he had become in her words. She had never consider herself something much and it constantly warmed her how Teddy viewed her as such stunning woman. Maybe she really could believe she really was pretty too, after all. 

Jo snuggled more into Teddy, he kissed her forehead and Jo took caressed Beth's hair as her sister closed her eyes to relax with a smile on her face. 

Jo felt the sting of writing, of having an inspiration to write, to share. She mentally noted it for tomorrow, so she could put herself to write something that finally she felt it was truly satisfactory. 

For the first time in her life, Jo thought that things could really go well. 

She was surrounded by people she loved and she would write. 

For the first time in her life, she felt that life was perfect. 

The night sky was full of bright stars and a full moon. 

Jo and Laurie were sitting on the entrance of the house, a candle light above them. 

Everybody went to sleep about an hour ago but they wanted to stay for a little while. 

So they stayed at the porch, talking and laughing, for the first feeling that nothing was hidden between them. 

And he’d called her beautiful. He had just told her. Nobody had ever called her that before, except her mother, which didn’t count. Mothers were required to think you were beautiful. She stared at him.

“We should probably go to sleep, your family is waiting...” he said. She was sure she was making him uncomfortable with the staring, but she didn’t seem to be able to stop. His eyes were like gemstones in the almost darkness. 

The moon, directly overhead now, lit everything nearly to daylight brightness.

In between one step and another she saw a white spark struck off something on his wedding finger. It was the ring she had gave him.

She surged forward, and her shoulder bumped his—he put a hand out to steady her, just as she turned to apologize, and then she was somehow in the circle of his arm and he was kissing her. 

And she sure was kissing him back. 

His mouth was hard on hers, unyielding; then he put both arms around her and pulled her against him.

His lips softened.

She could feel the rapid beat of his heart, taste the sweetness of apples still on his mouth.

She wound her hands into his hair again, as she’d wanted to do since the first time she’d seen him.

His hair curled around her fingers, silky and fine.

Her heart was hammering, and there was a rushing sound in her ears, like beating wings. 


	9. it's us

The day was so sunny and beautiful.

Things were going great lately.

"Meg married. And she and John are going to live together." Jo said. 

Laurie nodded and softly smiled, looking at her. 

"And Amy is going to Europe." She continued. 

"And then now that you graduated you'll be off gone in a long holiday." She realized that she was repeating herself. 

They arrived at the forest line and the meadow was ahead of them. 

Both of them stopped on their tracks briefly before Laurie started walking again, Jo following him soon. 

"We could go together. You don't have to stay here Jo. I've told you before. You have so much more. To give to the world. You're much more." He told her. 

"I don't know how to do that." She whispered. 

Laurie took her hand and he laced their fingers together. Jo grasped his hand tightly, looking at him smiling. 

"Yes, you do. You've always knew." He answered back. 

She stopped in her tracks. He turned to look at her. 

"How you do that?" She asked him. 

"Do what?" He asked. 

"Making feel brave." Jo said. 

"You've always been brave." Laurie answered. 

A warm thing expanded through Jo's chest. 

She threw herself in his arms, hugging him, lost at words. He was so lovely and he chose her.

They lost balance. 

They fell in the grass laughing. His arms securely hugging her to him. 

"You're crazy." He giggled. 

"You love it." She teased him. 

"Yes, yes I do. I love all of you. I love you so much." He said, now serious. 

She looked into his eyes and she got lost in the ocean of his green eyes. 

She wanted him so badly. 

She kissed him with the sun above them. 

When the kiss ended, he helped get up to stand. 

Laurie reached out and casually tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, and without meaning to, she sucked in a breath and leaned in to his touch.

His brow cleared, and his eyes turned to honeyed fire as they drifted down to her lips, which, she noted, were now parted.

It was like her body was this traitor, acting without her brain’s permission. _Especially considering what you were thinking earlier_ , that annoying voice tried to interject. _Are you seriously going to let hormones get the best of you when there are important things to consider?_

But when Teddy dipped his head down and pressed his mouth to hers, his smooth skin scratching against her chin in the most delicious way, her brain shut up entirely.

His arms wrapped around her waist, cinching her to him, and she put her hands in his hair, feeling the silken strands between her fingers.

Their kisses always got her weak at her knees. 

When their mouths parted, he read her mind. 

"I've always wanted to tell you that you made me weak at my knees but frankly you made me forget that my body even have knees." He told her. 

She smiled at his words. 

"I love you, Teddy. I just...I'm so nervous. I mean it's you, it's us." She said, her voice was trembling and she didn't know why exactly, placing her hand on herself and then on his chest trying to explain. 

"I love you too Jo but there's no need to be nervous. Everything is okay." He whispered.

"I just... I'm scared I will screw things up again. I don't want to. I want to be with you. I want us to be together forever." She said. 

"Nothing will happen. We're stronger together. I'm yours. I'm yours always." He assured her. 

"And I'm yours. I will always be. And that's why I wrote you something. Just for you." She reached inside her pocket dress and took out a folded page. 

"Jo..." For once, she had Teddy lost at words. She felt a pleasant joy at that and smiled to herself. 

"I got my inspiration to write these days and I wanted to express through writing what I'm not so able to tell you in words, of how much I care about you, how much I love you..." She told him. 

"Jo this is... I feel unworthy. Thank you." Teddy's voice cracked with emotion and his eyes filled with tears, good tears. 

"You're worthy of everything Teddy. Nobody like you. I feel lucky to have you with me, and in my life." 

He unfolded the page, and he smiled feeling emotion taking him as he recognized Jo's handwriting and the patches of ink. In the page a few words were written:

" _Teddy, my dearest Teddy. I love you. I am in love with you. When you fall in love, it is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake, and then it subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots are to become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is breathlessness, it is excitement, it is the desire to mate every second of the day. It is lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every part of your body. No … don’t blush. I am telling you some truths. For that is just being in love; which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over, when being in love has burned away. Doesn’t sound very exciting, does it? But it is!”_

Laurie finished reading Jo's words in the paper and when he raised his eyes again to her they were full of emotional tears, they looked like jewels, and she smiled completely moved by his reaction. They stared at each other's eyes. 

"Oh my God." He said, his voice cracking. 

"Teddy, in all my life I never thought I would be so lucky. To fall in love with my best friend..." She couldn't continue, as she started crying with emotion. 

They hugged tightly, lost at words, in each other's embrace. 

There was a brief silence and then Teddy did the things she was waiting for the most.

Time appears to stop as he gets on his knees just before her and he took her hands. 

"Jo, I thought..." His voice cracked with tears and he took another breath to continue, "I thought that it mattered what I said or where I said it. Then I realized the only thing that matters is that you, you make me happier than I ever thought I could be. And if you let me I will spend the rest of my life trying to make you feel the same way. I love you. I love you for as long as I can remember and I will always will. I would do anything for you, my dear Jo. You're my everything. "

She sobbed feeling completely overwhelmed as he almost was crying.

Then he reached into his pocket and took out a little beautiful box. Then he opened the box and revealed a gorgeous ring. 

Jo opened his eyes as she almost fell down and looked at the ring Teddy was showing her. 

"Jo, will you marry me?" Laurie asked. 

"Yes!" Jo answered. "Oh, yes, yes." She smiled and cried. 

He laughed as well as he cried from emotion. 

This was heaven. 

Teddy put the ring on her finger and they couldn't hold any longer as they reached for the other, selling their promise with a kiss. 

They are kissing like crazy. Like their lives depend on it.

His tongue slips inside her mouth, gentle but demanding, and this passion it’s nothing like she's ever experienced, and she suddenly understand why people describe kissing as melting because every square inch of my body dissolves into his.

Her fingers grip his hair, pulling him closer. Her veins throb and my heart explodes.

She has never wanted anyone like this before. Ever.

He pushes her backward and they are lying down, making out in the grass and she doesn't care, she doesn't care about any of that.

All she wants is Teddy. The weight of his body on top of hers is extraordinary.

She feels him—all of him—pressed against her, and she inhales his shaving cream, his soap, and that extra scent that’s just … him.

The most delicious smell she could ever imagine. She wants to breathe him, lick him, eat him, drink him. His lips taste like honey.

His face has the slightest bit of stubble and it rubs her skin but she doesn't care, she doesn't care at all. He feels wonderful.

His hands are everywhere, and it doesn’t matter that his mouth is already on top of hers, she wants him closer closer closer.


	10. the wedding

En la casa Jo había reunido a su familia.

"¡Teddy y yo nos vamos a casar!" Jo gritó rebotando sobre sus pies.

"¡Oh Dios mío! ¡Felicitaciones!" Dijo Meg, abrazándola. 

"Jo, estoy tan feliz por ti" le dijo Marmee sonriendo. 

"Les deseo buena suerte a ambos. ¿Estás feliz Jo?" Beth abrazó a su hermana con amor. 

"Sí, mi querida Beth. Ambos lo somos." Jo besó la frente de su hermana. 

"¡Ahhh Jo y Laurie! ¡Por favor déjame ser la dama de honor!" Amy gritó. 

"Queremos celebrar la boda antes de que Amy se vaya a Europa y Teddy se vaya. No pudimos discutir exactamente lo que haré, pero tal vez quiero, necesito, ver mundo, tal vez podría ir con él". Jo explicó. 

"Ambos nos amamos y por primera vez estoy realmente seguro de nosotros. Podemos trabajar. Somos geniales. Nunca encontraré a nadie que ame tanto como él y nunca encontraré a nadie que ame de la manera en que lo hace. Me encanta." Ella dijo. 

"¿Él te preguntó?" Marmee preguntó complacida. 

"Sí, en el prado." Jo sonrió. 

"¿Cómo?" Beth preguntó suavemente. 

"Le di mi tipo de carta. Y hablamos sobre nuestros sentimientos y luego me preguntó si me casaría con él". 

"¡Muy romantico!" Dijo Meg. 

"¿Se puso de rodillas y todo?" Amy preguntó saltando antes de que Jo pudiera responder. 

"Sí, se puso de rodillas". Jo se sonrojó al recordar. 

"¡Muéstranos el anillo!" Todos dijeron. 

Jo mostró el dedo donde tenía el anillo que Teddy le dio en la propuesta. 

"¡Es bonito!" Todos dijeron. 

"Yes, it kind of gives me goosebumps everytime I think about it. I still can't believe it." Jo said, pulling her hair out of her face. 

Everyone nodded and smiled and congratulated again. They all hugged her, happy for her. 

Since the distance all the women seemed like a moon, all tangled into each other arms with a smile on their faces. 

_____________________

In the next house. 

"I'm going to get married to her. We're getting married. Jo and I. It's a perfect dream. We are in love and I feel so happy. " Laurie said to his grandfather. 

"Yes, I'm glad, everyone expected it for a reason, and finally at last it happens." His grandfather asked laughing a little. 

*************

The wedding day arrived at last and everyone was excited and happy. 

Jo and Laurie wedding was being celebrating.

Jo was wearing a beautiful wedding dress and she was so pretty. 

Teddy was wearing a gorgeous suit and he was so lovely. 

"Are you ready" Her mother asked Jo. 

"Yes." She answered getting emotional. 

"To love and be loved, that is enough. Ask nothing further." Beth told her. Jo kissed her forehead feeling moved. 

___________

"Teddy, for so long I wondered if I ever would find my prince, my soulmate. I always turned to you, my dearest friend, for comfort. And instead I found everything that I'd ever been looking for my whole life. And now... Here we are... With our future before us... And I only want to spend it with you, my Teddy, my soulmate, my friend." Jo said her vows to Laurie. 

"Jo, I always thought this would be the most difficult thing I ever had to do. But then when I see you, I realize how simple is. I love you. Any surprises that come our way, it's okay, because I will always love you. You're the person I was meant to spend the rest of life with. " Laurie said his vows to Jo.

"You may now kiss the bride."

Teddy's heart beats faster and faster as her face came up to his own. He knew that when he kissed this girl, and forever wed his unutterable visions to her perishable breath, his mind would never romp again like the mind of God. So he waited, listening for a moment longer to the tuning-fork that had been struck upon a star. Then he kissed her. At his lips’ touch she blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete.

Jo closed his eyes, inmersed completly in the moment, to feel his lips in their kiss. This moment was so profund. It wasn't that long, but it was wonderful in its own way, and all she can remember about the moment is that when their lips touched to make the promise vow, she knew the memory would last forever. And even as she's kissing him and kissing him and kissing him, wanting more, more, more, more, like she can't get enough, never will be able to get enough.

They kissed under the sun sealing their promise of love and marriage. 

Marmee, Beth, Meg, Amy, Aunt March, Jo's father, Laurie's grandfather, John, clapped their hands and cheered. 

Jo and Laurie hugged each other after the words "husband and wife" where named for each other.

Porque después de todo el amor es el emblema de la eternidad; confunde toda noción de tiempo; borra todo recuerdo de un comienzo, todo miedo a un final.

Finalmente todo estuvo en su lugar. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Smut in the next chapter or not? 🤔


End file.
